Since their introduction, bitcoins have attracted a lot of attention both from the people that use them and those that do not alike. Though there have been positive feedbacks from people that have tried using the bitcoins in the past, it is unfortunate that the negative stories associated with this virtual currency have been the ones that have received the greatest attention. In particular, the stories indicating that bitcoins can and have been used for money laundering purposes are rather worrying so I think that a lot will have to be done to increase user confidence in the currency before it can receive large scale adoption throughout the world.

Am not an expert in online trading, not by a long shot, but I am one of millions of people around the world who carry out a significant proportion of our total financial transactions online. I have also been following very keenly the stories and developments that have surrounded BTC, which is the most popular virtual currency at the moment (though probably not the most widely used), and from what I have seen is that the greatest impediment to the growth of virtual currencies is the lack of trust between the providers of the currencies and the people that are meant to use them in the long run.

No offense but I think bitcoin is a solution is search of a problem. Regardless of whether it becomes mainstream, there exists a real need to securitize and streamline economic transactions. The IRS loves to find new sources of income so I'm not sure just because the IRS recognizes something as an asset indicates it is the new normal. I admire your enthusiasm but remain highly skeptical this will be anything more than a niche play.

As InformationWeek Government readers were busy firming up their fiscal year 2015 budgets, we asked them to rate more than 30 IT initiatives in terms of importance and current leadership focus. No surprise, among more than 30 options, security is No. 1. After that, things get less predictable.